Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, has said that the state government is setting up storage facilities in different parts of the state to avert the kind of food scarcity experienced in the state last year.
Oyebanji said that the government’s aim for the storage facilities was buying farm produce from farmers during harvest season and storing them for release during periods of scarcity.
The governor, who spoke in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, on Tuesday while inspecting one of the storage facilities, said, “Government’s immediate focus is to address food shortage, reduce post-harvest losses and ensure food sufficiency all year round across the state.”
He said the initiative was in line with President Bola Tinubu’s directive to the state governors to prioritise food security as a critical step in combating hunger across the country.
The governor said that the state cultivated over 6,000 hectares of farmlands in 2024, adding that the warehouse for storing food crops was a major challenge; hence his administration’s decision to provide storage facilities this year.
The facilities, according to the governor, would help regulate the prices of food items in the event of food scarcity.
While expressing his delight that a large chunk of the farm produces were bought from young farmers under the Bring Back Youth in Agriculture programme, the governor assured all that his administration remained committed to alleviating hunger and achieving food security in the state.
He said, “We promised Ekiti State good governance, and we have been trying to work on that talk. The President directed that each state should embark on a strategy for food security in Ekiti State in the last one year.
“We have started with phase one of a very deliberate attempt to ensure that we get ourselves out of hunger. Last year, we cumulatively cultivated over 6,000 hectares of land in the state, all planted.
“Going forward, we want to ensure that those crops that we buy from the youth are stored there, and we will release them to the market when there is an increase in prices of food so that we can moderate prices.”
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Ebenezer Boluwade, said that the goal was not only to tackle hunger but also to create opportunities for youth in agriculture.
Boluwade said that the initiative would ensure steady food supply throughout the year, adding, “Government will encourage farmers, particularly the youths in agriculture to increase production, knowing that their produce will not go to waste and government is willing and ready to buy from them.” (Punch)
